Aboriginal urbanization has increased dramatically in Canada over the last half century. Aboriginal rights may be an important factor in shaping Aboriginal peoples’ experiences of urbanization, as they are largely restricted to those living on reserves. Through their impacts on social determinants of health, these differences in spatial access to Aboriginal rights may have implications for the health of Aboriginal peoples living in urban areas. Using mixed quantitative (statistical analysis of the Aboriginal Peoples Survey) and qualitative (in-depth interviews with Aboriginal women and men in Toronto) methods, this thesis explores relationships between Aboriginal urbanization and Aboriginal rights, focusing on how they may differentially impact the health of Aboriginal women and men living in urban areas. Findings suggest that the perceived lack of respect for Aboriginal rights in urban areas is negatively related to health, and that Aboriginal women and men may experience these impacts differently.

Background: Individuals who make multiple visits to EDs for mental health complaints are a highly visible and challenging group. Recent healthcare priorities aimed at reducing inappropriate or unnecessary service use call for improved continuity of care. Implementing effective continuity interventions is contingent on sound foundational knowledge including population profiling and conceptual understanding. A deficit in these key elements is apparent in existing literature. These gaps in knowledge must be addressed to ensure quality continuity research targeting frequent presenters. Furthermore, there is a paucity of research available that implements evidence-informed methods and theory-driven measurement strategies. Objective: To strengthen the knowledge base on frequent mental health-related ED use and continuity in mental healthcare by addressing existing gaps in foundational knowledge and examining the phenomena at a regional tertiary healthcare centre. Method: This was a three-phase emergent study design using mixed methods. Phase 1 was an integrative study to synthesize research on frequent presenters to the ED for mental health complaints. Phase 2 was a theory analysis to explore the conceptual understanding of continuity in mental healthcare. Phase 3 was an observational case-control study of an exemplar population at a regional tertiary healthcare centre using the evidence-informed methods emerging from the first two phases. Results: From this enquiry, I proposed an evidence-informed profile for frequent presenters to the ED for mental health complaints, summarized parameters used to identify the frequent presenter population, highlighted existing areas of theoretical consensus not yet recognized in continuity research, and provided a global understanding of continuity in mental healthcare and an approach for selecting measurement strategies for continuity research. The observational study strengthened the emerging frequent presenter profile and explored CoC using a comprehensive tool. Conclusion: This doctoral thesis addresses important gaps in foundational knowledge by providing an evidence-informed frequent presenter population profile and global theoretical summary of continuity in mental healthcare. The observational study appears to be the first to use a theory-driven measurement tool and results differ from previous studies in which simple measurement approaches are used. Given this, new hypotheses/questions about the focus and role of CoC with frequent ED use need to be explored. / Thesis (Ph.D, Nursing) -- Queen's University, 2013-04-26 10:47:19.626

The sustainability of publicly funded Canadian health care services is an ongoing debate. Timely access to services and the availability of qualified health care professionals are vital to the survival of emergency health care services in rural and small towns. One of many factors threatening sustainability is the lack of qualified professionals. The current nursing shortage and the aging nursing workforce present rural hospitals with recruitment and retention challenges that threaten the sustainability of emergency services and thus have the potential to compromise the health of Canadians living in rural communities. Health care decisions are primarily based upon economics without consideration of the diversity of rural communities. Challenges in health care delivery including access to emergency services affect Canadians living in rural communities. These challenges need to be highlighted in the context of rural health as a unique entity in order to build awareness in policy makers to ensure appropriate health care service delivery to rural communities. It is important for researchers and policy makers to recognize that rural hospitals are not mini-urban centres and thus have differing needs. This two phase study focused on the sustainability of emergency health care services in rural and small town Ontario. Using a mixed methods approach, this study explored a descriptive analysis of emergency departments in rural Ontario and concluded with in-depth case studies of three rural emergency departments with varying travel distances to tertiary care facilities. These findings have validated pre-existing frameworks and can be used to assist policy makers at all levels to develop recommendations for sustaining emergency health care services in rural Ontario including ways to recruit, train, retain, and maintain resources that are vital to the survival of rural emergency services. / Thesis (Ph.D, Nursing) -- Queen's University, 2013-09-24 16:23:27.162

This study aims to contribute original knowledge of the identity ofpost-1992 academics to inform the debate surrounding the professionalization of higher education teachers. The setting was a modem university in the East Midlands. Bourdieusian theoretical conceptualizations of the mediated relations between agency and structure (habitus/field theory) were applied to deconstruct/reconstruct the nature of these relations within the university's academic workforce. This investigation revealed disjunctions amongst staff members. The study's findings suggest that these might be addressed through structured training in the logic of practice for recruits. Bourdieu [1930-2002] developed a mixed methods methodology, combining positivist and phenomenological research paradigms to ensure breadth and depth in ethical data interrogations. This approach informed the sequential mixed design of the study. The first phase (survey) elicited profile and benchmarking data and perceptions of field forces and conditions from sixty respondents. Most lacked teaching qualifications or experience on entry. The second phase (fifteen interviews) captured personal narratives for subsequent thematic analysis. Current evaluation of primary data indicates three significant trajectories analyses: effective actionlbehaviour arising from the meaningful convergence of the individual's competences (mapped as habitus), the organizational environment (field) and the job's demands (practice). Data filtration through these lenses uncovered destabilizing divergences. Significantly, most participants eschewed identification as an 'academic'; seeing themselves as first and foremost a teacher. Their key concerns were negative perceptions of management and student demands as threats to personal efficacy, thus an accredited teacher training programme instilling a dual professionalism was broadly welcomed. This study provides timely sociological perspectives on the government's recent positive correlation between funding and new staff accreditation. Institutional reliance upon existing and contract staff, however, suggests their training needs warrant further investigation. This thesis argues for such training to make explicit the science of pedagogy and the art of teaching to all teaching staff through the conscious integration of habitus/field theory in higher education teacher training. In this way, both agent and field are strengthened, to their mutual advantage.

Issues as to the suitability of executive compensation packages have obtained an ever increasing profile in recent years. Whilst there has been quite extensive empirical investigation of pay-performance sensitivity, the framework of performance-pay has received less attention in the literature and examination to date. Besides this - whilst there has been a quantum of investigation of relationships between compensation and performance, there has been less focus on case study based analysis. In this context, the current study makes a twofold contribution to the examination of executive directors’ remuneration in FTSE 350 companies. First, this research aims to empirically investigate linkages between the nature and amount of compensation packages and company performance with a particular focus on examining the extent of interrelationships between pay and performance over a ten year period from 1999 to 2008. Within the scope of a variety of theoretical perspectives, this deductive study puts a focus on addressing the question of whether managerial compensation is the greater influence on firm performance or whether it is the latter which has the greater influence on the former. Second, this study seeks to qualitatively add to the relevant literature by means of a longitudinal case study of remuneration at UK based major multi-national company, BP, over a ten year period from 2001 till 2010. Within the context of a variety of theoretical and institutional perspectives, this inductive study explores, by means of investigation of BP’s Directors Remuneration Reports, the role of the BP remuneration committee in setting the mechanisms and structures which determine the nature and extent of executive remuneration packages at BP and considers the wider generalisability of the findings therefrom. Overall the current study utilises a mixed methods approach via a combination both quantitative and qualitative modes of analysis – an approach which is relatively rare in the discipline of research into corporate governance and related issues. The outcomes from the empirical work show evidence of the presence of dual positive associations between executive compensation and company performance. However, the results do indicate that executive compensation is more influential in its effect on firm performance than the framework of performance-related pay. This finding is interpreted as lending support to the stewardship and/or tournament theories as to underlying drivers of executive remuneration in comparison with agency theory, represented by agent-principal or managerial hegemony perspectives, as an explanatory of the construction of executive remuneration and the link with firm performance. Similar to prior literature, the empirical findings indicate that equity-based compensation is more robust in the linkage with firm performance than cash pay dominated packages. However, the results showed that the existence of remuneration committees in general reveals insignificant and negatively related to total CEO/executive remuneration. This finding highlights therefore the need to put a focus on the actual role of compensation committee in setting the type and extent of executive pay packages in a large UK company. The outcomes from the archival case study also suggest that it is difficult to find significant support for a pure agency theory approach whereby shareholders seek to align their interests directly with those of their managers as a driver of executive compensation packages. There is more evidence suggestive of a managerial power/hegemony perspective which is heavily mediated by the presence of powerful non-executive directors and the institutional presence of the remuneration committee. Perhaps the most significant aspects to emerge from the case study are the importance of personal relationships and power at boardroom level. Beyond this the inferences of the supplementary content analysis conducted specifically on the Directors Remuneration Reports are suggestive of a focus on overall BP performance rather than on the specific activities and achievements of individual executive directors. In conclusion, the findings of the present study provide a wealth of detail both quantitative and qualitative as to the manner in which executive remuneration has been set in the UK in recent years and as to linkages both with corporate performance and underlying theories of the determinants of executive remuneration. As such it sheds light on an area of importance and one of continued private and public concern and may be of interest to those responsible for governance within firms and to wider public and regulatory interest as well as future researchers in the field.

Bakgrund: I Sverige har vi ett mål- och kunskapsrelaterat betygssystem som innebär att den enskilda läraren ska bedöma och betygsätta elevernas kunskaper utifrån skolans styrdokument på ett sätt som är både rättssäkert och likvärdigt. Arbetet med bedömning och betygsättning kan vara särskilt komplicerat för hem- och konsumentkunskapslärare eftersom ämnet innehåller en stor blandning av teoretiska och praktiska förmågor som ska bedömas på endast 118 undervisningstimmar. Syfte: Undersökningens syfte var att undersöka hem- och konsumentkunskapslärares arbete med och tankar om bedömning. Metod: Två metoder användes; en elektronisk enkät som besvarades av 94 verksamma hem- och konsumentkunskapslärare och sex semistrukturerade intervjuer. Intervjuerna analyserades med innehållsanalys. Resultat: En majoritet (74 %) av hem- och konsumentkunskapslärarna som besvarade enkäten ansåg att ämnets kunskapskrav var för omfattande i förhållande till undervisningstiden. Några av lärarna i intervjuerna förklarade att den snäva tidsramen försämrade möjligheterna till rättvisa bedömningar. I både enkäten och intervjuerna framkom det att vanliga bedömningsmetoder i HK var löpande bedömning, praktiska prov och skriftliga prov. Alla intervjurespondenterna arbetade med formativ bedömning och det fanns även indikationer på att en stor del av enkätrespondenterna arbetade med formativ bedömning. Några lärare förklarade att de såg formativ bedömning som en naturlig metod i hem- och konsumentkunskapsämnet. Slutsats: Många av hem- och konsumentkunskapslärarna använde flera olika bedömningsmetoder för att bedöma sina elever trots den snäva tidsramen. Hem- och konsumentkunskapslärares förutsättningar att genomföra rättvisa bedömningar med hög kvalité kan dock förbättras om det finns med ett bedömningsperspektiv när det på organisatorisk nivå beslutas om vilka ramar som ska gälla för hem- och konsumentkunskapsundervisningen, till exempel gruppstorlek och tidfördelningen mellan årskurser.

This thesis explores the relationship between crime, media, and public opinion of crime and criminal justice. It sets out current levels of knowledge and contemporary debates in each of the three academic disciplines devoted to these aspects of social life, and discusses how they relate to each other. It focuses on the capacity of information and public education to influence levels of public knowledge of and, as a secondary concern, attitudes towards, crime and criminal justice. The empirical research at the heart of the thesis employed a mixed methods research study drawing on quantitative – experimental research using a public opinion survey – as well as qualitative research methods – in-depth interviews and contextual data. The experimental research, the Oxford Public Opinion Survey and the publication of the Crime Scene column, was designed to measure the impact of providing factual information about crime and criminal justice to the public in a naturalistic way, i.e. by using a local newspaper column as the conveyor of such information. The key finding from the research was that readership of the column was low and that the column had no measurable impact on readers. Overall, the research findings suggest that interest in, take-up, and retention of factual information on crime and criminal justice is not as high as previous empirical research has suggested. The Crime Scene study has implications for sociological theories of crime and punishment which rely on simplistic orthodoxies concerning the media’s importance in influencing public opinion on crime and criminal justice and the related assumption that ‘the public’ is straightforwardly punitive.

Abstract COGNITIVE ORIGINS OF THE “BIMBY” EFFECT: A MIXED METHODS EXPLORATION OF SURVEY RATINGS REGARDING THE QUALITY OF PUBLIC SCHOOLS By James M. Ellis, Jr., Ph.D. A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, School of Education at Virginia Commonwealth University. Virginia Commonwealth University, 2011. Director: James H. McMillan, Ph.D. Professor of Education, School of Education Public education and public opinion are pillars of democracy. In surveys about education, respondents in aggregate almost always rate schools attended by their children highest, schools in their communities moderately, and schools in the nation poorly. This phenomenon holds for many other survey topics. Some call it “BIMBY” for “better in my back yard.” This dissertation used mixed methods to investigate BIMBY. Eight qualitative interviews with nine participants used grounded theory to generate hypotheses about BIMBY’s causes. This research revealed a qualitative “insider” view of school quality used by participants for schools familiar to them, and a more quantitative “outsider” view used for unfamiliar schools. The qualitative research generated four main hypotheses tested in a quantitative survey: xviii 1. An empathy hypothesis, tested by framing “nurturant” and “strict” sets of propositions about public schools. 2. A hypothesis about lack of information, tested by sometimes offering explicit don’t know options for school ratings. 3. A community attachment hypothesis, tested by sometimes offering questions about community activities and the like. 4. A hypothesis about a sense of the “here and now,” tested by sometimes asking respondents the number of times they changed schools. This was a full factorial design using sixteen forms of a brief mail survey. A truncated Dillman protocol was used with a randomly selected sample of 960 residences in the Richmond and Charlottesville areas. There were 208 completed surveys. The empathy experiment increased ratings for schools at all levels. Additional analyses indicated that ratings for both local and national schools were influenced by the empathy experiment and the respondent’s world view (nurturant or strict). Ratings for local schools were also influenced by the type of area in which respondents lived (urban, suburban, etc.) and opinions about their communities. Ratings for schools nationally were also influenced by the experiments regarding explicit don’t know responses and community attachment. Thus, respondents draw on different domains of opinion when rating different schools. Ratings for local schools relate to opinions about the community. Ratings for schools nationally may relate to a general world view and the respondent’s identities within the community and the nation.

During an era when the United States has been engaged in the longest waging wars in U.S. history, military families have been exposed to extraordinary amounts of stress and have had to learn to adapt in a culture where repeated deployments, recurrent family separations, and frequent relocations have become the norm. A surge in research in recent years on the families of Service members has brought increased attention to the unique challenges and demands of spouses, raising concerns about how to best meet their needs. Despite the increased attention, few studies have focused on spousal well-being. Acknowledging this lack of research, the present dissertation study utilized a mixed-methods approach to explore various dimensions of well-being, as directly experienced by spouses of active-duty military personnel. Data was collected from a web-based survey completed by 300 spouses of active-duty Service members. Quantitative data included a wide range of demographic, family, military lifestyle, and service utilization questions along with a battery of standardized instruments measuring various risk and protective factors, which represent components of well-being. Qualitative data were collected from four open-ended questions and analyzed thematically. Qualitative and quantitative components were corroborated in the final analysis. Results of the study found significant differences in well-being scores among subsamples of participants divided by employment status, race, and Service member rank. However, subsamples divided on the basis of having children, education level, and Service member combat deployment history did not result in significantly different well-being scores. Separate hierarchical regression analyses were performed on the outcome scores for each component of well-being (social, mental, and physical). The findings revealed that selected risk & protective factor variables were significant predictors within each model. On the other hand, socio-demographic characteristics only added to the predictive power of outcomes scores in the mental component of well-being. Qualitative findings included data on participants’ perspectives of the rewards and challenges of military life, the impact of the military lifestyle on parenting experiences, and advice to spouses new to the military lifestyle. Implications and limitations of this study, as well as suggestions for future research to enhance the well-being of military spouses, are discussed.

Frailty in older adults is characterised as a vulnerable state, which predicts a range of health outcomes (e.g., injurious falls, institutionalisation, and mortality). The physiological and practical outcomes of frailty are recognised, but the psychosocial processes are largely unexplored so they were the focus the thesis. The overall aim of the thesis was to advance the understanding of frailty in older adults and its relationship with ageing perceptions. Three studies were conducted to achieve this aim. The first piece of work was a systematic review that investigated the association between older adults’ perceptions of ageing, broadly defined, and their health and functioning. The review showed that negative ageing perceptions were associated with poor health and functioning across a variety of health domains relevant to understanding frailty including: self-rated health; comorbidities; disability; memory; quality of life; mortality. However, conclusions from the review were limited by the quality and cross-sectional nature of the studies. Consequently, the second piece of work analysed data from a large longitudinal sample to test the relationship between older adults’ ageing perceptions and frailty explicitly. Older adults with more negative perceptions of ageing were more likely to be frail after adjusting for age, sex, depression symptoms, and socioeconomic status. However, ageing perceptions were found to be a weak predictor of frailty six years later. To investigate the mechanisms of the relationship between ageing perceptions and frailty, a qualitative exploration of older adults’ understanding of frailty and their beliefs concerning its progression and consequences was conducted as the third piece of work. Twenty-nine participants participated in semi-structured interviews, which were analysed using a Grounded Theory approach. An understanding of frailty as a negative identity and the strategies by which self-identification “as frail” occurs and is resisted were developed. Participants believed that the consequences of self-identifying as frail were poor health and functioning, disengagement from physical and social activities, depressive thoughts, negative affect, stigmatisation, and discrimination. Most participants actively resisted the identity, and they used a variety of resistance strategies. Collectively, the findings from this project indicate that older adults’ ageing perceptions are related to the development and progression of frailty. Ageing perceptions are associated with older adults’ health and how they view themselves – whether they identify as frail and the different strategies they may use to resist identification. Whilst additional research is needed, the results of this research suggest an influential psychosocial aspect to frailty. Accordingly, a new model of frailty and its relationship with older adults’ ageing perceptions is offered. The model has implications for the way frailty is identified, supported and treated.